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The winners of John P. Powell Middle School’s Science and Engineering Fair will have the chance to advance and compete in the Greater East Regional Alabama Science and Engineering Fair. 

The regional fair will be held at Auburn University at Montgomery on Feb. 24. 

The school hosted the annual fair on Tuesday in the library. Twenty-five students from 6th through 8th grade participated in the fair. The STEAM fair had 15 categories to choose from.

With the help of STEAM Specialist Vickie Benson and Pamela Joiner, students completed research into various subjects. Eighth-grader Zuberi Jackson, who won third place in Robotics, built a robotic hand for his science fair project. Jackson, from Valley, moved to J.P. Powell Middle School for the STEAM program, according to Principal Nick Davis. 

“When they called his name, everybody was cheering for him,” Davis said. 

Jackson said he liked the idea of building a robotic hand because in the future everyone might have robotic hands. Though he enjoys doing science experiments with solubility and learning about intercepts in math, Jackson hopes to be a writer when he grows up.

Using a hot glue gun, straws, string and cardboard, Jackson was able to create a robotic hand and fingers that move with joints. One piece of string attaches to each finger so that when Jackson moves his hand, the robotic hand moves with it.

The winning students were Antravious Boyd for “A Magnetic Primer” in Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, D’Karia Burton and Charlinda Walton for “How Your Immune System Use Its Memory” in Human Biology and Health, Kennedi Williams for “Frequent Histograms” in Math, Mar’rayh Brisky and Jayden Anderson for “Plant Chromatography” in Chemistry, Kaylee Pickon for “Maple Syrup” in Food Science, Payton Fields for “Building A Cellphone Microscope” in Digital Photography Video and Video Games, Audriona Finley for “Processed vs. Plant-Based Meats” in Plant Biology, Eli Session for “Tin Boat” in Aerodynamics and Hydrodynamics, Lukas Singletary for “That’s Creepy Exploring the Uncanny Valley” in Robotics, Maurkenzia Brooks for “Build A Better Light” in Engineering, Ny’ria Lee and Zantavious Patten for “Building Personal Medical Apps” in Computer Science, Caniyah Williams for “Where Does the Heat Go?” in Sports Science, Ziantz Simpson for “Which Materials Can Catch Bubbles” in Materials Science, Jordan Lewis for “Homemade Fly Trap” in Zoology and Emilyn Jones for “Ball Launch” in Physics.